The Daily Start-Up: A Tree Falls In A Forest

In-Q-Tel and Battelle Ventures had high hopes for ImageTree Corp., a company that measured tree crowns as part of a plan to monitor greenhouse gasses and play a key role in managing companies’ carbon footprints. But expected cap-and-trade legislation never took off, and the company has been sold to GeoDigital International Inc.

When two company founders connected at the recent Web 2.0 conference, it was more than just a chance for fellow entrepreneurs to catch up – it resulted in the acquisition of photo-sharing site Plixi Inc. by content-and-commerce site Lockerz Inc.

Also, Storenvy Inc. has raised a $1.5 million Series A to jolt a space the CEO calls “nerdy and boring”…a Boston philanthropist has set aside family money to back start-ups working on treatments for cystic fibrosis…and an Indian daily-deals site has followed the massive funding rounds of Groupon Inc. and LivingSocial Inc. with a financing of its own, a $12 million round from Mumbai-based Nexus Venture.

(VentureWire is a daily newsletter with comprehensive analysis of all the investments, deals and personnel moves involving start-ups and their venture backers. For a two-week trial, click here.)

Elsewhere around the Web:

Venture capitalists were a bit more confident in the fourth quarter of 2010,according to a survey by Mark Cannice, professor of entrepreneurship and innovation at the University of San Francisco. Improving exit prospects were the reason.

Salesforce.com chief Marc Beniofftells The Wall Street Journal why he decided to build a new campus for the business software company in San Francisco rather than Silicon Valley. “I honestly think it’s so much better,” he says. “I worked in Silicon Valley for 13 years. There are no restaurants, there is no shopping, there is no energy.”

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